A discussion with my friends brought about this topic. The discussion initially started with talks on the condition of Software Exports and the amount of revenue it brings to the Indian Economy as a whole. Though the Software Exports business (by way of consulting projects) has been good over the past so many years and have made billions of dollars for companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro, etc., the question that we all had was about the future of the Software Exports business.

We all know that India has been receiving consulting projects because of the talent pool we have and secondly because of economical per hour rates when compared to USA and European countries. But, with time other countries are coping up. Their talent pool and per hour rates are comparable to ours.

Take China for example. To my understanding China is not far behind on grounds of talent pool and per hour rates. We have been slightly over-confident about the fact that such projects will keep coming to India because we are the largest English speaking country (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population). But for how long? How long will China be left behind? One fine day China will come up to our levels. What will be the competitive edge that we will have then?

I think it’s time that we start building software products and market them. Ultimately a product offers more power of earning because you develop once and then implement/install everywhere. We should definitely start to think in this direction and start building capacity both educational and entrepreneurial. After all why can’t we have the next best Operating System or an Office Productivity Suite or a Programming Language IDE, etc. etc.

I think India has a lot of scope as regards “Made in India” Software products. Think about it.

Please feel free to add your comments and replies.

Subscribe to free newsletters:

I have developed these based on my freelancing experience. Though I have discontinued freelancing, but would like to share my practices with you. These are basic practices and have been developed over time with experience (good and bad). Please feel free to leave your experiences and comment on this article.

1. Communicate with your clients frequently

This I believe is the most important habit that you should inculcate. Keeping the client in the loop ensures them that you are on top of things and that you are working on their project. Think about it! what if you were the client and were paying someone to develop something. Wouldn’t you want to hear from your vendor frequently?

Issues, slippages, project statuses should be frequently updated to the client (irrespective if your client asks or not). It’s professional ethics!

2. Document interactions with your client

Following point 1, you will have a lot of interactions with your client. You should record/document these interactions as a habit. These interactions could either be in the form of a chat message, emails or function specification documents. Maintaining a history of such interactions will help you during the closure of the project and mainly towards User Acceptance Testing (UAT).

3. Maintain on-going relations with all parties

Just because a project is over does not mean that you should not maintain relations with your clients. Greeting your client on birthdays, anniversaries, etc makes them feel good. This exercise is good to build rapport with clients. It always keeps you fresh in their minds. So, the next time they have a project; guess who gets called first.

In addition to above, you should also maintain relations with suppliers or other freelancers who you outsource work to. In the long run it helps build trust and gives you a good bargaining power. Think about it.

4. Get yourself a professional identity

So what if you freelance, it doesn’t mean that you should not carry yourself professionally. Create professional looking logos, business cards, stationery and website (very important).

Get a professional copy writer to help you with the content of your website. You should mention the projects that you have done and the skills that you have. Always have a contact form on your website where prospective clients can contact you (and when you do get contacted, reply immediately).

5. Seek testimonials from your clients

Seek testimonials from your clients after closing a project. Get this on email and catalogue it for future reference. Also seek their permission to publish their testimonials on your website. In addition to this, you should consider requesting permission from your clients if its ok to give their contact information for reference checks. Some prospective clients would like to talk to your old clients and gauge the experience they have had with you.

6. Create reusable libraries

Creating reusable libraries makes you more profitable. Think about it! If you have been creating email validators on forms for nearly all projects, it makes more sense to create a reusable library and import that library in your current project and make use of it. This way your effort on the project in the long run is reduced and hence you get paid for something that has already been done.

In addition to this, if you discover a bug and fix it, you can apply a patch immediately to all your projects. Saves your time there too and helps all your clients with the bug fix in one go.

7. Maintain proper accounts

Many freelancers (including me) have failed at this. We fail at this not because we don’t know how to handle finances or accounts, but because we are programmers… we love to write code… not books. Do you agree with me?.

But the hard reality is that at the end of the financial year we need to pay taxes. To pay taxes properly we need a good accounting system. The choice is up to you, either be disciplined and maintain proper accounts from day one or waste a lot of time towards the end of the financial year doing it.

I recommend that you do it as you go along. I recommend that you dedicate a weekend to file your papers/accounts properly.

Please feel free to post your comments or add to this list your experiences and best practices.

Subscribe to my free newsletter for article updates:

Related Posts

• 12 common programming mistakes to avoid
• 5 skills every programmer must learn
• 5 reasons ever developer should freelance
• Ideas on debugging your live website
• 5 Tips on improving Programming Logic
• Why should every programmer upgrade knowledge
• 6 billionaire college dropouts

You might be the best programmer with an unbeatable logic, but there are some skills that you must obtain before it is too late.

As your age picks up, it is a bit difficult to catch up with so many technical advancements and languages that you can do when you are young. But as your grow up, your preferences would change and so would your likes towards programming and development. You slowly will look at managing than developing. You would aim to become a Project Manager or a Delivery Manager or a Vice President of a corporation. At this level programming skills become less relevant and other managerial skills become more important.

Once you reach that level, it is necessary to have some managerial skills to prove yourself in the area of management as well. Following are the skills that I feel that every programmer should aim at to grow up the corporate ladder.

1. Communication skills
Once you become a manage or start to lead a team, having good communication skills is very important. Both written and verbal. Communication is a two way process. You should learn to speak effectively and also listen. The first step is to improve your English language skills. Read this article on How to learn and improve English

2. Inter-personal skills
Inter-personal skills is the manner in which you deal and interact with others people. These people could be your clients, team mates, colleagues, seniors or your friends.

I have been a programmer myself and understand what it means to have an ‘Ego’ and ‘Shyness’. Shed these two attributes and treat each individual as you would want them to treat you. This will not only help you gain more friends, but you will also be easily accepted in various groups.

3. Time Management Skills
Like all other skills, this is also important and cannot be left aside. Every individual has 24 hours in a day. The key part of that skill is how to manage those 24 hours. We are always bombarded with work and family responsibilities. The skill is how to manage the show properly and stike a good balance to achieve all priority tasks.

I personally recommend reading the section on Time management from 7 habits of highly effective people by Steven Covey. He mentions that you should learn to schedule your priority rather than prioritize your schedule. A must read.

4. Task management skills
This skill becomes very important once you elevate yourself from being a programmer to a manager. You should learn to keep track of various tasks, not only for yourself but also of your team members.

The first step is to manage your tasks well when you are a programmer. To manage tasks you should take notes when you are given a task. Maintain a book/calender where you jot down your tasks and prioritize them. Once you complete a task; strike it off. Follow this process and it will automatically become a habit.

5. Presentation Skills
Another important skill to possess is presentation skills. As your experience grows and you start designing applications, your corporation would want you to present development ideas to clients or members of another team. You could also be asked to train internal people in skills that you are good at. In situations like these you should have good presentation skills.

Presentation skills does not get improved in a day. It requires a series of miserable failures to succeed. You should feel comfortable standing in front of a large group of people to deliver a good presentation. I would recommend that you seek opportunities withing your corporation to train people and help improve your presentation skills.

I recommend reading this article on How to power your presentation.

Conclusion:
All these skills mentioned above require a considerable amount of time, practice and failing to master. I would recommend that you start now. If you feel shy or are nervous standing in front of people and presenting, then I recommend that you seek opportunity with your current company to present an idea to a group of people or seek opportunity to train internal people; which will help you eliminate your fear of public speaking.

No matter what, don’t worry at all of what your friends or colleagues would think about you. They might mock at you or insult you, don’t worry at all. Over the next 5 years you probably wont meet them at all… so what are you scared of.

Learn, practice and improve… Best of Luck!!!

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment.